About this podcast

Join our SkyWatch hosts for conversation highlighting news from the world of astronomy. Listen in via your computer or MP3 player as they bring the latest discoveries down to Earth. SkyWatch also includes HubbleWatch, a round-up of news from NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope.

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Shownotes

What is Pluto?
Currently Pluto is embroiled in a controversy over whether it should be called a
planet or a Kuiper Belt object. The Kuiper Belt is a group of icy bodies beyond
the orbit of Neptune.

Pluto's potential new moons

Recently, scientists discovered two additional moons orbiting Pluto, fueling support
for its classification as a planet.
Pluto was thought to have only one moon, Charon, which orbits
12,024 miles (19,351 km) from Pluto.
The two newly discovered moons are much further away. One orbits 30,000 miles
(48,000 km) from Pluto; the other 40,000 miles (64,000 km).
Scientists are working to confirm the discovery. And the debate continues over whether
Pluto is a planet or a Kuiper Belt object that happens to have three other
objects in orbit around it.